Ch.24211th Committee Member (1)

In the game, the Machine Council of Star Union has an important characteristic.

Unlike examples such as the seven houses of Megacorp, the Prophet Council or Imperial Assembly of Cult Empire, the Machine Council is exclusively composed of NPCs.

In other words, the Machine Council only appears as enemies or advisors.

When playing as Megacorp, Star Union’s competitor, or as a Star Union cyborg, you’ll end up fighting the Machine Council. The former is to achieve the final ending goal of “integration” like AMorph’s Ascended, while the latter is because you must pass the Machine Council’s test to become the Supreme Commander.

I fought against the Machine Council while playing as AMorph during a battle with a Star Union Supreme Commander player.

As NPCs that appear as late-game enemies, the Machine Council boasts a difficult challenge.

First, each council member commands their own elite fleet. Since they mobilize their fleets during battle, challenging players also need military power comparable to a fleet.

Additionally, all members are androids, so they can modify their bodies. Each member has a different modification style, and they frequently change body parts during battle according to the opponent’s strategy.

But none of them were modified like Pyrrha Eleven standing before me.

Massive alloy hoses like the body of an Ice Horror were spread everywhere, and in the center was the upper body and face of a giant made of biomatter and metal.

The face had a distinctly androgynous feel, and eyes larger than Adhigh Orr or Sky Mother were replaced with camera lenses. The skin writhed as if alive whenever it moved.

‘That can’t be called an android anymore.’

Unlike cyborgs, androids are completely mechanical, but they generally maintain a humanoid form. Even when Machine Council members deviate from human form, they transplant their brains into combat machines rather than modifying themselves to that extent.

It was closer to PS-111. A hybrid of machine and organism.

‘Of course, that one is completely dominated by the machine.’

Moreover, its appearance was far worse than PS-111. The hideous monster struck down at me with its hose.

Its hoses were as thick and long as an Ice Horror’s body. Each hose was about 1.5 times the length of my body.

I blocked the hose with my wing arms and combat arms. Not only did it look similar to an Ice Horror, but its weight and defense were also comparable.

While I blocked its strike, the others behind me moved in unison. I activated “Predatory Leech’s Hand” in that state.

‘Huh?’

Unexpectedly, the enemy’s bioenergy wasn’t absorbed. To confirm, I bit into the hose I was holding. The hard metal skin broke, and foul-tasting flesh flowed out from inside.

‘I see.’

The alloy hoses had a surface covered with alloy scales, with biological tissue inside. Since it wasn’t a creature, I couldn’t absorb it with Predatory Leech’s Hand just by grabbing the surface.

Moreover, the flesh contained poison. Judging by the tingling sensation in my mouth, it seemed to be a neurotoxin. It hadn’t mindlessly swung its hose at me.

‘Is it trying to paralyze me? Not kill me?’

At that moment, No. 26 who was riding on my head shouted.

“Big guy! Watch out!”

Simultaneously, another hose flew in from the side and struck me.

Though I’m not small, the hose was much larger than me. My body was pushed backward by its attack without me realizing it.

‘Its strength is about equal to mine, but…’

It’s quite a cunning opponent. While blocking the incoming attacks with my combat arms, I sent a wave to the others.

[Zzz zzzzz zzzzz zzz zzz(Be careful of its flesh. It’s poisonous)]

I’m not affected by poison, but the others are.

Sky Mother, who was dodging the flying hoses and swinging her front paws, immediately retreated after hearing me.

Adhigh Orr flew in from behind and caught the retreating Sky Mother.

While Adhigh Orr avoided the hoses protruding from the canyon walls with acrobatic flight, Sky Mother returned to her griffon beastkin form.

With nimble movements, she climbed onto Adhigh Orr’s back and took out a long golden spear from his backpack.

A hose flew in to pin down Adhigh Orr. Just as three massive hook claws were about to grab him, the Golden Spear of Shaman emitted light.

With a single strike, Sky Mother cut off all the claws. Adhigh Orr, seemingly expecting this, continued flying rapidly without slowing down.

The hose that lost its claws tried to follow to catch him. But it couldn’t achieve its goal due to a navy-blue energy bullet that came from somewhere.

PS-111, who had fired the covering shot while clinging to the wall, quickly closed its mouth and moved positions. The ice wall cracked, and a hose hidden inside moved to attack the enemy.

‘Not so fast.’

The tentacles attached to my neck and back of my head prepared a psychic breath in response to my will. Energy charged at high speed, and the entire tentacle cluster quickly turned purple.

Purple flames rose from my head, and a violent psychic beam was fired forward. The hose that was about to crush PS-111 was pierced by the beam.

At that moment, I felt large objects moving behind me. Pyrrha Eleven had swung two hoses to hit me from behind while I was distracted.

But what it didn’t know was that I wasn’t actually distracted. I was trusting the small friend on my head.

The two hoses, overwhelmingly large compared to me, stopped in mid-air as if hitting an invisible wall. Though much smaller in size, No. 26, whose strength was by no means weak, had exerted his power.

The hoses tried to break free, but escaping from the net of psychic power that had spread into dozens or hundreds of strands was no easy task. I turned my head and destroyed the two hoses with my psychic breath.

‘So far there’s no major problem…’

“Pyrrha Eleven fired a plasma main cannon.”

“I lost my lower body.”

“Pyrrha Eleven absorbed my fallen lower body.”

“Pyrrha Eleven mimicked some of my characteristics.”

“Pyrrha Eleven’s attacks were incompletely enhanced.”

“I died.”

‘Oh no!’

Seeing the images rapidly flowing before my eyes, I quickly put strength into my tail. My body sprang sideways like a spring. Almost simultaneously, an enormous amount of plasma energy was discharged from Pyrrha Eleven’s mouth.

A tremendously thick beam, like one fired from a ship’s main cannon, burned the spot where I had been. The ice floor quickly melted as if the sun had fallen.

The dry canyon filled with steam. From behind the white vapor that settled like fog, Pyrrha Eleven’s voice was heard.

“Pyrrha Eleven. Modifying. Special Target A’s judgment level revised from ‘high’ to ‘very high’.”

‘Did it attach a ship’s main cannon?’

It fired the beam again. But I hadn’t been idle either. Against the incoming green beam, psychic breath spewed from the ends of my tentacles.

Thanks to ‘Dragon’s Heart,’ I can draw out terrifying firepower when it comes to psychic power. The thickness of the psychic breath fired at maximum output was almost equal to the beam it shot.

The plasma beam from the mechanical monster and the psychic breath from me, who inherited the power of the dragon, collided in mid-air.

A tremendous shockwave swept through the canyon. The canyon shook violently, and ice fragments over 10 meters in size poured down from above. The ice floor evaporated from the heat.

‘It’s strong. But…’

Although its beam is impressively powerful, it doesn’t match my firepower.

The green plasma beam was gradually pushed back. Soon, its face would be destroyed by both the backlash of its own attack and my beam.

However, what happened next was different from my expectation.

Pyrrha Eleven’s face began to break apart into countless particles.

‘What?’

The plasma beam stopped, and my psychic breath flew toward its head. But since its head had already broken apart and scattered, my beam only managed to burn a small portion.

‘It was drones?’

Thousands, no, tens of thousands of drones smaller than ordinary ones had gathered to form its head. When I first saw it, I felt its face constantly writhing, but that was actually because of the gathered drones.

The bio-drones that had dispersed gathered again where the psychic breath hadn’t reached and reformed into a giant face. And the hoses that had been writhing on the ground moved on their own as if drawn by a magnet and connected below the face.

And it spewed the plasma beam again. I also responded to its attack with psychic breath.

Another power struggle with clear superiority began, but I wasn’t happy about it.

‘…It hit my weak point properly.’

I thought it was a single entity because the auxiliary organs sensed the same biosignals, but my assumption was wrong.

Pyrrha Eleven’s true identity is a swarm, specifically a collective of miniaturized biological weapons. Opposite to the hoses with flesh inside metal exteriors, these drones have mechanical parts inside organic tissue.

The plasma beam isn’t from a main cannon attached inside its mouth. That’s just a deception; in reality, bio-drones capable of firing plasma coordinate their angles and timing to fire beams simultaneously.

‘Thanks to that, I was completely fooled.’

While firing my breath, I quickly scanned the surroundings with the auxiliary organs under my jaw.

‘I need to cut off its energy supply first.’

My gaze turned to the hoses connected below the drone-composed head. Some of the hoses were embedded in the canyon walls and ground. Whether they were hidden for ambush or absorbing energy was unclear.

‘Whatever it is, it would have prepared for this.’

Being cunning, it surely set traps.

‘Then should I clear out the drones?’

Enhanced psychic breath can be useful against a bio-weapon swarm. If I hit even one drone, it will spread to nearby organic matter on its own.

‘The question is how efficient that would be.’

Those numerous bio-drones are its terminals. Even if I succeed in hitting drones, it will quickly respond.

It might sacrifice a few drones to minimize damage, or it might deploy drones hit by psychic breath to where I or the others are.

‘To prevent that, I need to wipe them out at once.’

There are traps I prepared when entering this canyon.

Just then, its head scattered. As my breath struck the canyon, ice fragments poured down over our heads. The firmly frozen ground also melted and became slushy due to our battle.

While its head was reforming, I spread a wave.

[Zzz zzzzzzz zzz(Find its energy source)]

I entrusted them with an important mission and ran along the path we came in on.

“Pyrrha Eleven. Initiating pursuit. Will eliminate Special Target A, the highest risk factor, first. Other targets will be handled by terminals.”

Behind me, Pyrrha Eleven with its head connected to hoses followed. Numerous hoses tore up the ground with each of its movements.

I could see other hoses behind it interfering with the others. These hoses are close to Ice Horrors in terms of specs. If I delay even a little, the others will be in danger too.

‘If this succeeds, it will deal a critical blow.’

At that moment, a plasma beam flew from behind. The beam fired by it grazed over my carapace as I crawled.

[Zzzz(Are you okay?)]

“Yes.”

As part of my shell broke, I felt resistance to plasma energy building up in my body. Due to the ‘Mimicry Scale’ trait, new resistance to energy was developing in my body.

In other situations, I would have fought while taking hits, but that tactic was difficult to choose now.

‘The future seen through predator senses. It absorbed my flesh.’

From the passing images, I saw it devour my torn lower body and mimic my characteristics. The plasma beams of the bio-drones that composed it became stronger, and the hoses transformed into forms similar to my pincers.

Just like PS-111 absorbs materials to transform its body. The problem is that its transformation is much faster.

So I had no choice but to keep twisting my body to avoid its attacks.

As I ran, I saw the blackened floor and walls in the distance. It was the nest I had laid out in advance when entering the canyon. Due to the steam and heat generated from inside, the nest had expanded beyond my expectations.

“Pyrrha Eleven. Question. Is this what you relied on to lure me? The synthetic substance with toxic components secreted by Special Target A has already been analyzed. Perfect immunity has been secured.”

The creature that had shown meticulous attention to moving its mouth when speaking until just now no longer did so now that its secret was exposed.

Pyrrha Eleven smashed the nest I had laid without hesitation.

‘Of course not.’

The nest was just a means to draw the picture I wanted. The real weapon is elsewhere.

Linked with the nest, I commanded it.

‘Burst.’

The black mucus buried in the canyon walls gushed out like a fountain and fell onto its head. The mucus splashed everywhere, covering its face and hoses.

Despite the black mucus pouring from above, it ignored it. Its mouth composed of bio-drones opened, and green light was about to burst out from inside.

Just before its attack was fired, I disconnected from the nest and immediately brought out my next weapon.

Green, purple, and all sorts of bizarre colors invaded my tentacle cluster.

Perhaps wary of the unknown energy flowing from my body, it stopped firing the beam, and the bio-drones composing its face began to move to disperse.

It tried to escape, but that’s not a problem.

I fired a psychic breath infused with ‘Power of Deep.’

My target wasn’t its head.

The sphere of chaos, flying in a direction far off from its head, hit the black mucus flowing down like a fountain from the canyon wall above its head and exploded. As soon as I confirmed the explosion, I spread my wing arms wide and propelled myself backward.

[Zzzz zzzzz(Try to avoid this too)]

A rain of the abyss poured down on Pyrrha Eleven’s head.